Extending the effective imaging depth in spectral domain optical coherence tomography by dual spatial frequency encoding

Abstract

We present a spatial frequency domain multiplexing method for extending the imaging depth range of a SDOCT system without any expensive device. This method uses two reference arms with different round-trip optical delay to probe different depth regions within the sample. Two galvo scanners with different pivot-offset distances in the reference arms are used for spatial frequency modulation and multiplexing. While simultaneously driving the galvo scanners in the reference arms and the sample arm, the spatial spectrum of the acquired two-dimensional OCT spectral interferogram corresponding to the shallow and deep depth of the sample will be shifted to the different frequency bands in the spatial frequency domain. After data filtering, image reconstruction and fusion the spatial frequency multiplexing SDOCT system can provide an approximately 1.9 fold increase in the effective ranging depth compared with that of a conventional single-reference-arm full-range SDOCT system.